Donald Wittkowski

Ocean City’s proposed $79.7 million operating budget reflects a healthy real estate market and should satisfy Wall Street credit-rating agencies, but will require local property owners to pay more in taxes this year, according to the city’s chief financial officer.
Overall, the 2017 budget is up about 5 percent compared to last year, largely due to an increase in debt payments for new construction projects and higher health insurance costs...

For Jen Powell, the disappearance of her son is made even more difficult by the exasperating lack of clues in the case – and the uncertainty of even knowing whether he is dead or alive.
John Weisbecker inexplicably vanished on March 11, 2009, from the house he shared with his mother and sister at 205 Asbury Ave. in Ocean City. A postal worker saw Weisbecker that morning, but no one else has spotted him since then, police said.
As another year passes without any trace of Weisbecker, his mother remains convinced that someone – somewhere – knows something about her son and must come forward to finally give the family closure.
“I just keep praying that one day someone will have a conscience and tells us what is going on,” she said in a phone interview Friday on the eighth anniversary of her son’s disappearance...

Largely avoiding the controversy and objections of the past, Ocean City’s third attempt to regulate the Boardwalk performers who entertain the summer crowds sailed through on its first vote Thursday night by City Council.
In another key vote, Council approved spending $650,000 to buy an abandoned former Getty gas station that has been a longtime eyesore marring the appearance of the main gateway into town...

Getty appears to be a goner.
Ocean City has reached a tentative deal to buy an abandoned former Getty gas station as it moves ahead with plans to demolish blighted sites along the main gateway into town and transform them into inviting green space.
City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday night on spending $650,000 to acquire the Getty property at the corner of Ninth Street and Bay Avenue. The Getty site is the last of three shuttered former gas stations that had marred the appearance of the Ninth Street corridor for years...

Little Max, a friendly, mixed-breed dog, has been working on his behavior with the Humane Society of Ocean City’s kennel director George Muller in hopes of impressing someone to adopt him.
Statistically, Little Max has a very good chance of finding a new home. In 2016, the Humane Society had a 95 percent adoption rate.
The no-kill shelter, an Ocean City institution since the 1960s, hopes to build on its success with a $200,000 renovation plan over the next 13 months to accommodate the growing demand for its services...

The first thing customers likely will notice when they enter the Bohemian Mama boutique in Ocean City is the tepee in the middle of the store.
Another eye-catching feature is a piece of driftwood that stands around 7 feet tall and is draped with Christmas balls and whimsical ornaments.
Adding to the shop’s eclectic decor are two display tables that were once the doors on an Asian-Indian temple.
“We want people to feel that coming into Bohemian Mama is an experience,” store owner Gina Ozhuthual explained of the diverse interior design. “We want them to come in and feel they are getting something special.”

Sorry, kids. This is one Friday night that you’ll have to stay at home and take care of the house and dog while mom and dad are out having fun.
But don’t worry. They’ll be having a good time for your benefit.
The Ocean City Education Foundation is hosting a “Benefit by the Beach” wine tasting event Friday night at the Flanders Hotel to raise money for local schools... (more)

Ocean City agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that a former beach tag director had a sexual relationship with a then-teenage girl under his supervision, according to court documents posted online.
City spokesman Doug Bergen declined to comment Monday on the settlement, which was filed in October and first made public Saturday by the legal blog NJ Civil Settlements. Michael Testa and Justin White, Vineland attorneys who represented the plaintiff, could not be reached for comment Monday...

Large chunks of the dunes along some of Ocean City’s north end beaches have been sliced away, as though someone took a gigantic cleaver and cut them in half.
What’s left are cliff-like walls of sand that tower 7 or 8 feet above the beach in spots between Third and Fifth streets.
Although Ocean City isn’t scheduled for its next round of beach replenishment until 2018, there is a possibility fresh sand could be added to the badly eroded north end beaches this year to get them in tip-top shape...

Multimillion-dollar beachfront homes, trendy downtown boutiques and upscale sailboats traversing the waterways provide a decidedly affluent backdrop in Ocean City.
But there are lesser-known parts of town where people are suffering, where poverty and hunger exist, said Gloria Votta, chairwoman of the Community Services Committee for the Ocean City Board of Realtors.
“It would surprise

Latest News

From time to time, buildings, just like people, need some TLC.
Such is the case with Ocean City’s historic City Hall, an architectural gem in the Beaux-Arts Classicism style that is getting some touch-up work on the brick, granite and terra cotta exterior to restore its luster.
“It’s ornate,” Cape May architect Michael Calafati said while marveling over the three-story building. “It’s not Victorian, but it has all the embellishments you would associate with Classical Revival architecture. This is pretty unique.”
Calafati is overseeing Ocean City’s $400,000 restoration of the 104-year-old landmark...